


Ages

by padfootagain



Category: British Actor RPF
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 18:29:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16979628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/padfootagain/pseuds/padfootagain
Summary: Your agent and your parents don’t approve your relationship with an actor who’s older than you. But are you going to listen to them and break up with Ben, or will you listen to your heart instead?





	Ages

**Author's Note:**

> Fluff and a tiny bit of angst, I hope you like it!

You were lying on the grass, the breeze tickling your naked feet. Under the shadow of a tall oak, you had found some king of reprieve from the torturous heat of Los Angeles in August. You closed your eyes, while Ben was running a hand through your hair. You were lying on the ground, your head resting on his laps as he was sitting against the trunk of the tall tree that sheltered both of you from the warm sun. He was reading the script of the next movie he was going to be working on. He was supposed to leave for Australia next week. And though you hated the idea of being so away from him, you understood the reasons why he had to go.

After all, your own script was on the ground next to you.

A few months before the first big movie you had been involved in had been released, and since then you received scripts by the dozens. Now you actually had the _choice_ of doing whatever film you wanted, choose the part you wanted to play and not just jump on the first thing that would get you a check at the end of the month to pay the bills.

But there was a dark side in celebrity that you had never even imagined and was tearing your heart apart.

Now you had an image to defend.

And according to your agent, your image couldn’t involve you dating another actor who was ten years older than you.

Of course you had defended Ben and shouted at your agent that who you were dating was none of his business anyway.

Because the truth was, you loved Ben, and you didn’t give a damn about what people might think of your relationship.

Unless your agent, the clever man, had brought an argument that was now torturing you and giving you nightmares.

You could see the scene playing over and over again in your head.

_“I love him, Karl,” you said. “Fuck off! Who I date is none of your business!”_

_“What if he’s just using your new fame to put himself on the front row?” your agent fought back._

_“I knew him before the movie was released.”_

_“People don’t know that. All people will see if they learn about the two of you now, is that it’s a mere fling. And your image will be stained with this. And he has already a rather long career behind him, he’ll overcome it, but you won’t.”_

_“But why would people think that?”_

_“Because you’re ten years younger than him.”_

_You remained frozen._

_“Have you talked to your parents about him?” your agent asked._

_You slowly shook your head._

_“Why that?” your agent went on. “Because your father he’s not going to take it well. Because now he’s going to think exactly like the rest of the world. And believe me when I tell you this : if you don’t stop seeing him, you can be sure that your fame will soon vanish behind his.”_

You closed your eyes tightly, before opening them wide again.

‘If you don’t stop seeing him, you can be sure that your fame will soon vanish behind his.’

But you couldn’t believe it, so the very night, you had gone see your parents, and had told them about Ben.

But…

_“Y/N… I’m not so sure about this guy,” your father had protested._

_“You don’t even know him, dad.”_

_“What if he’s…”_

_“He’s?” you encouraged him to continue._

_“What if he’s just using you because your young and famous now?”_

_“He’s famous too, remember?”_

_But your father shook his head._

_“I don’t like you being with someone so much older than you.”_

_“Dad…”_

_“Really, Y/N… I don’t agree with that at all.”_

_“But dad… Don’t you want to at least meet him?”_

_“No, Y/N,” he glared at you. “I won’t meet him.”_

_“We’re in the 21th century you know? I can date whoever I want!”_

_“It doesn’t change the fact that I don’t trust this man and that he will not set a foot into my house.”_

You felt tears blurring your vision at the memory.

'I don’t like you being with someone so much older than you.’

It had happened two days ago, and you were at war with yourself. Your soul was like torn in two.

Would you stay with him? Or will you ensure your family’s consent and your career and leave him?

“Y/N?”

You started at the sound of Ben’s warm voice.

“You’re alright?” he asked you, suddenly noticing your wet eyes.

You took a deep breath, before sitting up, shaking your head.

“We need to talk, Ben,” you said quite coldly, turning to face him, crossing your legs before you.

He frowned hard, immediately closing his script.

“What’s going on?” he asked, worried now.

You looked down at your hands. You couldn’t hold his stare. His eyes were too dark, and too deep, and too intense and you knew he could read your soul as long as you looked at his eyes.

You were not strong enough to confess all this staring at these eyes you loved so much, these eyes that had made you fall for him the very first second you had seen him.

“I… I think…” you stuttered, your voice hesitant,“ that we must… stop seeing each other, Ben.”

“I beg your pardon?” Ben asked, clearly not believing you.

You took a deep breath, and repeated your decision in a steadier voice.

“I think we should stop seeing each other, Ben.”

He let out an uncertain laugh.

“What…?” he breathed. “It’s not funny.”

“It’s not meant to be.”

He grabbed your face in both his hands, forcing you to look up at him, and you could see so many emotions in his beautiful eyes.

Fear, confusion, denial, anger…

“What?” he breathed again.

Two children ran next to you, laughing merrily. It was kind of ironical to break your own heart in such a merry and sunny place.

“Y/N… What the hell are you talking about?” Ben asked once more, his voice louder but shaky.

He knew you were serious. He could tell by the sound of your voice.

And he was terrified right now.

“I… I’m sorry,” you said, and he forced you to keep looking at him when you made a movement to lower your head again. “I’m sorry, Ben. But I don’t think that we can be together anymore.”

He closed his eyes, just hoping that it was a nightmare and that when he would lift his eyelids again, he would be back in his bed.

But when he opened his eyes all he could see was your face, your eyes shining with tears.

“Why would you want us to break up?” he asked, aghast. “Did I do something wrong? Did I offend you or something?”

“Of course not.”

“I must have done something wrong though. What did I do?”

“Nothing, Ben,” you earnestly answered. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Why would you want to leave me if I’ve done nothing wrong?”

He narrowed his eyes.

“Have you met someone else?” he asked in a breath.

You shook your head.

“Why then?” he asked once more.

But you didn’t want to tell him. You wanted to run away now.

You made a movement to free your face from his tender grasp, but he tightened his hold on you instead.

“Ben… please don’t make things more difficult than they already are.”

He started to nervously laugh, his eyes wide.

“Are you serious?” he breathed. “You’re blurting out something about breaking up with me… completely out of the blue you… you don’t even tell me _why_ Â you want to leave me in the first place and… and you don’t want me to make things difficult?”

His voice was rising a bit more at every word, and many people were staring at you now.

But to be honest, none of you cared.

“Well, I’m sorry, Y/N,” he went on, struggling to lower his voice. “But I’m not going to make things easy for you. I happen to love you in case you hadn’t noticed.”

A tear escaped your eyes and rolled down your cheek.

“I’m not going to let go of you so easily,” Ben went on. “Did you think that you could just… tell me that you wanted us to break up and walk away without me fighting back? Without me looking for reasons?”

“Ben…”

“Well, Y/N, I’m sorry. But I’m going to fight for you.”

You could see that there were withheld tears in his eyes as well.

“I don’t understand…” he added. “I thought we were happy together. I thought I was making you happy. I… I love you.”

Tears started to uncontrollably flow down your cheeks, and you chased his hands away with your own, freeing yourself and you crushed your lips together.

You could feel his surprise, his arching eyebrows, uncertain movements and hesitant lips. But eventually you felt him close his eyes and wrap his arms around you, drawing you closer to him.

You couldn’t do it…

When you finally broke the kiss, both of you short of breath, you wrapped your arms around his neck, holding him tightly against you, one of your hand lost in his dark hair, his short beard tickling your temple.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, crying hard now. “I’m sorry. Forget I said that. Forget all about it. I can’t do that. I can’t break up with you, I can’t, I can’t…”

You started to shake, and he held you even more tightly against him, a soothing hand stroking the back of your head.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered again. “I’m sorry. I love you, Ben. I don’t want to break up with you. I can’t do it…”

He made you look up at him again.

“I don’t understand anything right now,” he admitted.

And it was true, he seemed completely lost.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, chasing a strand of your hair away from your face.

You sniffed, forcing your tears to stop.

“It’s because… It’s because of your age. And mine. And the difference between the two,” you tried to explain.

He frowned.

“I didn’t think it mattered to you,” he said. “It doesn’t matter to me.”

“It doesn’t matter to _me_ but…”

His thumbs gently brushed the tears away from your cheeks, making your heart leap under your ribcage.

“My agent thinks it’s gonna be a problem,” you said. “And… He believes that people will think that you’re just with me because of this movie I made, and… And that because you’re older… It’s just a fling. And he thinks it’s going to be a weight for my career.”

Ben clenched his jaws.

“You know that it’s not true,” he said slowly. “You know how much I care about you, how much I love you.”

You nodded.

“But then… I went to my parents because Karl had messed up with my head and… they didn’t know about you yet.”

You stared at his eyes, but he remained silent, waiting for you to continue.

But your voice broke and you struggled to find it back.

“Because I know my dad is a bit narrow-minded when it comes to my love life, and…”

You shook your head.

“And he won’t even meet you. We had a huge fight and… he won’t hear about it.”

You sniffed again, and he held you close to him, kissing your forehead, and you heaved a sigh, your face pressed against his shirt.

You could hear the regular beating of his heart and that was the most reassuring sound you had ever heard.

“Y/N,” he said slowly, his voice soft and soothing. “Is my age a problem to you? Without thinking about your parents or your agent or anyone else in the world. Just you. Is it a problem?”

“Of course not,” you shook your head.

“If none of this had happened, would you have wanted to break up with me?”

You shook your head again.

“Do I make you happy?” he asked, his voice weaker now.

You looked up at him, brushing your fingertips against his dark beard.

“Of course you make me happy, Ben,” you whispered. “I love you.”

“Alright then.”

He suddenly stood up, pulling you up with him, and he guided you towards the gates of the park.

“Where are we going?” you asked him.

“To see your parents.”

He opened the door of his car for you, but you didn’t get in. You merely looked at him as if he was mad.

Because now he _was_ mad.

“Ben… we can’t do that,” you breathed.

“Of course we can. And that’s what we’re going to do,” he replied.

“You don’t know my dad. He’s stubborn as hell…”

He took your face in his hands again.

“I’m going to convince him that I love you with all my heart and that you being younger than me doesn’t change a thing to the fact that I couldn’t live without you. And I’m going to do it right now.”

“You’re mad.”

“That’s all because of you.”

You smiled at each other, before you would finally give in and climb into his car.

You gave him your parents’ address and he started to drive.

“And about your agent,” Ben said after a short silent. “I’m going to take care of him too.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll go see him and tell him to mind his own business.”

He was clenching his jaw, his fingers so tightly wrapped around the wheel that his knuckles were white.

He was angry. Very angry. Dangerously angry.

“You’re not going to punch him, right?” you asked.

He gave you a reassuring smile.

“I’m not stupid,” he replied. “I’m angry… infuriated even, but not yet stupid. Of course I won’t hit him. But what’s going on between us is none of his business. And actually, it’s nobody’s business except the two of us.”

You smiled, resting a hand on his thigh as he drove through the streets of Los Angeles.

“I’m sorry about all this mess,” you said.

“It’s alright, Y/N. You’re a bit lost, that’s all. It’s okay to be lost sometimes.”

“Are you mad at me?”

He looked at you for a few seconds before focusing on the road again.

“Because you would be right to be,” you breathed.

But he shook his head.

“I’m not mad at you, love. It’s alright.”

He held your hand for a moment, before focusing on his driving again, and you knew you would be okay.

Because he was here with you, and he wouldn’t let you go, even when you doubted yourself.

He parked the car before your family’s home, and you both quickly strode to the door.

He straightened his dark shirt, and knocked on the door.

Your mother opened the door, frowning hard at the sight of Ben smiling next to you.

“Y/N?” she said, clearly confused.

“Hi, mum,” you smiled. “This is Ben. My boyfriend.”

He offered your mother his open hand and his most charming smile.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, madam.”

She shook his hand, looking at you.

“What are you two doing here?” she asked.

“I understood your daughter and your husband had… quite a fight because of me,” Ben answered. “So we came to see him, and try to reassure him.”

Your mother nodded slowly, inviting you both inside, and she called for your father. And as Ben was walking into the living room, your mother bent closer to your ear to whisper.

“Well, I understand now. He _is_ charming.”

“Mum!” you laughed.

Ben turned towards you again, and you held his hand, exchanging a smile.

And your father came in.

At the sight of the two of you holding hands and smiling, he knew who he had to deal with. He knew Ben was your boyfriend. He knew you had brought him in his house when he had refused you to do so.

You saw him clenching his jaw.

“Dad, this is Ben,” you said. “My boyfriend.”

Ben offered your father another one of his charming smile and extended his hand towards him.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” he said, using his most polite tone.

But your father didn’t take Ben’s opened hand.

“So… you’re the boyfriend?”

Ben lowered his arm, smiling again.

“I am, yes,” he nodded.

“I don’t really like my daughter being with someone older,” your father said bluntly.

“That’s what Y/N told me. I do not see why though. You don’t know me. How can you know I’m not worth your trust, or your daughter’s?”

“She should be with someone her age,” your father stubbornly replied.

“She chose me though.”

“We all make mistakes.”

Ben merely smiled in response.

“Why are you here anyway?” your father asked quite aggressively.

“I’m here because Y/N was upset about you two fighting, and I don’t want to be the reason for any tensions between you and your daughter,” Ben answered.

“You can still walk out of this house. Actually, walk out of her life, and you won’t be a problem then.”

You saw Ben clenching his jaw, but he gave your father a little smile anyway.

“With all due respect, sir… I don’t think I’m a bad person. And I didn’t force your daughter to love me, she chose me just like I chose her. So no, I’m not going to walk out of her life. I love her. And her being ten years younger than me or ten years older changes nothing. I love her. And I’m trying my best to make her happy every day and to take care of her. I’m not going to walk out of her life. And I’m not going to let her walk out of mine either.”

A heavy silence settled into the room.

“I just hoped to make you see that my intentions towards your daughter are earnest and good. I just want her happiness, nothing more, sir,” Ben went on. “And I know she can’t be happy if you two are mad at each other, so…”

Your father looked at you.

“Dad, please,” you breathed.

He heaved a deep sigh, before looking at Ben again.

“You want a drink, Ben? Because I definitely need one.”

You watched your father turning around to go to the kitchen, and you and Ben exchanged a bright smile. And you were sure of something now, a certainty that you had doubted for a couple of days.

Things as futile as age really didn’t matter at all…


End file.
